Guest blogger Anne Weiskopf discusses how McDonald’s has been able to add to the success of their Monopoly game through their use of social media. My favorite part of this article is the advice McDonald’s gives:“Don’t try to do everything at once. When we first added a social media component to Monopoly we used just one channel, which we picked based upon what the research told us would be best. We honed in on that channel, learned from the cycle, and then expanded.”

@mqtodd shares a story from Neil Van Wouw about how he’s using social media to spread the word about Ganbatte 365, a project that is documenting the renewal in Japan after the 3.11 disaster. They are collecting videos and messages of hope and showing them on large digital screens in Tokyo and of course, on the web. By using Twitter, Facebook, and video, Ganbatte 365 is keeping awareness of the renewal at the forefront of people’s minds.

Ok, it’s a little more than that, but the sale may never have happened if not for a response on Twitter. Dianna Huff shares how she tweeted hearing about InfusionSoft and in the tweet she included the twitter handle of the CEO. The same day, he replied to her tweet. From there, the conversation continued with a sales rep who reached out to her… and a short time later Dianna was a customer. Her tip (and I fully agree with her): “Respond to people when they reach out to you on social media.” You never know where it will lead!

Question: How will you use the lessons in these examples to improve your social media marketing efforts?